Hello readers! Have you ever finished a book, gone to its page on Goodreads, and been shocked at the average rating? I never know what to think when this happens!
Sometimes I love a book, see the average rating is less than 3.5, and I just wonder if I missed something.
Today I am doing a tag I did before back in 2021, the Goodreads Was Wrong Book Tag. This tag was originally created by Booktuber Gabs About Books.
Don’t forget to check out my Book Tag Masterlist for the 100+ book tags I’ve done before things one!
What is the highest rated book that you gave a low rating? (Sort your books in Goodreads based on Average Ratings and find the highest rated book you gave a low rating).
This one has a rating of 4.59, which isn’t surprising as it’s the last one in a series. I just had to admit to myself that I don’t like LOTR. I didn’t enjoy the movies, and I don’t enjoy the books.
For me, it’s mostly Frodo as a character. I never enjoyed following Frodo. However, the audiobooks of this series are phenomenal. They have music and background noise, which I really like in an audiobook.
What is the lowest rated book that you gave a high rating? (Sort your books in Goodreads based on Avg Ratings, in reverse order, and find the lowest rated book you gave a high rating).
Here is a book with a 3.00 rating that I gave five stars. Unhinged is a romance that follows a woman and her apartment door. I really love these types of romances. They are called object shifter romances.
I 100% believe these types of books are not for everyone. I would recommend trying it, though! It’s less than 100 pages, and you might enjoy it.
I will warn anyone reading this that you will either love it or hate it. Object shifter romances work for me because they are weird and unserious. I like the weird aspects, but most people won’t.
What is the most popular book you disagree with the avg rating? (Sort your books in Goodreads based on number of Ratings, and find the first book you disagree with the avg rating)
The Fault in Our Stars was super popular in the early 2010s. It was the first book I read by him, and I instantly disliked it. The reason is very simple. I heavily dislike sick lit. At the time, I didn’t know what that was.
I did not understand the hype around this book when it came out, and I still don’t. Mind you, I’ve read every fiction novel John Green has written. There are ones I love and ones I don’t.
Sick lit romanticizes terminal illness of young teens. It’s perfectly fine to write a romance following a terminally ill character, but these types of books are very specific in their formula.
A Booktuber in 2020 named Caleb Joseph made a video about The Fault in Our Stars and all other sick lit books/movies, which are all the same. I’d recommend the video if you don’t mind being spoiled on some of the books/movies. I don’t want to spoil it here.
I remember agreeing with so much of what he said, and then he was bullied off Booktube for the video and didn’t come back for an entire year.
What is the least popular book you disagree with the avg rating? (Sort your books in Goodreads based on number of Ratings, in reverse order, and find the first book you disagree with the avg rating).
This was so hard to pick! A lot of these books with a low number of ratings are books I read so long ago I don’t remember much. This one had a 4.2 rating and I gave it a 2.
War on Christmas was an indie book I read in 2023. It’s a grumpy sunshine where the woman is the grumpy one, mixed with the brother’s best friend trope.
I just really disliked the FMC in this book. She was just really mean. She was mean and unpleasant to everyone for no reason at all. She tries to say she had a bad childhood because she got something she didn’t want for Christmas once as a kid, so that makes her the way she is.
I personally was not rooting for the romance in this one. Mind you, grumpy/sunshine is my favorite romance trope. This was just done in a way that I really disliked.
Choose two books that have an average rating of 3/5 stars but you gave a higher rating.
This book has an average rating of 3.62. I would say the first time I read it, I would agree with the low-ish rating. But I read it a second time and loved it.
This book follows a woman whose husband and son are murdered during a terrorist attack in London.
The first time I read it, I really disliked it because the main character is the villain in her own story, besides the death of her family. She is an awful person. She neglects her son and cheats on her husband. Upon a second read, I really focused on everything else in the story.
We are following a woman who is a terrible person having a breakdown in real time. It was an interesting perspective and story to follow. Bad things happen to good people and bad people. Not all victims are perfect people.
I also like the commentary on the lack of mental health help for people after things that shock an entire nation. Those who are left behind after a massive number of people are killed are also victims.
I would say, if you can’t stand an unlikable main character, skip this one.
Platform Seven follows the ghost of a woman who was murdered at a train station. We follow her both in her life and also in death while she is watching the new girlfriend of her boyfriend, who was abusive.
I loved this book so much, and then I looked at other opinions. Most people seem to absolutely hate this book. I remember I read it for Books and Lala’s book club, which I sort of dip into every once in a while. Everyone, including her, disliked it.
I think people disliked it because of the experience of the main character being so bad. Her boyfriend was very abusive and was always gaslighting her. I thought that made it a more powerful story.
Choose two books that have an average rating of 3/5 stars but you gave a lower rating.
This one had a 3.86/5, and I gave it a 2. Internment came out in 2019 and was inspired by Donald Trump’s first term as president when he suggested America should have a registry for Muslim people.
Internment follows a teen girl who is muslim and is put in an internment camp in America.
I personally just thought the logic of the story didn’t add up. In this story, we weren’t really told how the average American was reacting to the camps. I just thought I’d like to see the outside perspective of people protesting it.
Also, I remember when Trump proposed this registry and thousands of non-Muslim people said they would register to break the system. This didn’t happen in the book, which I thought was a missed opportunity.
I read Wuthering Heights in high school and really disliked all the characters. I thought they were all so dramatic. I then read it again as an adult, and I didn’t enjoy it any more than before.
It isn’t that Wuthering Heights is a bad story. It’s sort of a forbidden romance novel, but darker. It was just purely the characters of the story that I didn’t enjoy following.
Choose two books that have an average rating of 2/5 stars but you gave a higher rating.
I actually do not have a book for this one! I have two books that have 2/5 stars average and I also gave them 2/5 stars.
Choose two books that have an average rating of 4/5 stars but you gave a lower rating.
The War that Saved My Life is the first book in a historical fiction duology that takes place during WWII in England. I really didn’t love book one. It was mainly the main character. Ada is a young girl who is both disabled and neglected by her mom.
Ada and her brother move to the countryside and is treated like a human being for the first time. But she was so awful to everyone for no reason. She is the most insufferable person to follow.
However, I would recommend reading this one! It gets so much better in book two. She really comes around once she settles in this environment.
Starfish was a middle grade book I wanted to read for a long time. And I finally got around to it in 2025. It follows a young girl who is fat. She is bullied by her weight, and her biggest bully is her mother.
I just didn’t think this book was realistic. Every single person she comes into contact with has something to say about her weight. Are people like this? Absolutely. However, there are also plenty of people who don’t care.
I do like the focus on her mom being her first and biggest bully. It is very common for parents to become their child’s first bully.
I don’t think this book had much to say. There wasn’t much of a resolution about her problem of constant bullying. I like the idea of the book, but not the execution.
Do you tend to agree or disagree with GR average rating and do you use GR as a guide for books you want to read?
I have been using Goodreads much more for reviews lately, but for more specific things. I don’t tend to have a ton of outliers, but I do disagree at times.
Mostly, I prefer to use it for content warnings, especially for horror. Horror is a genre of movies and books that I have loved for a long time. But the current state of it is all body horror, and I can’t read that. Goodreads has helped me to avoid it completely.
I’ve also used it recently to look at future books in a series when I read one I didn’t like. I read Amari and the Great Game, which is the second book in the series. I didn’t like the book after loving book one. So, I looked at the reviews for future books to see if I might change my opinion. I just don’t prefer to waste my time reading books I don’t like.
Happy blogging and bookish adventures! 📚🦒✨
This post was created by Allison Wolfe for www.allithebookgiraffe.com and is not permitted to be posted anywhere else.
Where to find me: https://linktr.ee/Allithebookgiraffe
Add this user on Goodreads for all your trigger warning needs: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/86920464-trigger-warning-database
Leave a Reply